JESSICA :
Pronounced: JES-i-ka
Origin(s): Hebrew
Meaning: “Rich.” This name was first used in this form by Shakespeare in his play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, where it belongs to the daughter of Shylock. Shakespeare probably based it on the biblical name Iscah meaning “YAHWEH beholds” in Hebrew, a minor character in Genesis. Pop singer Jessica Simpson is one of those teenage blonde hotties whose Favorite Food is “Chicken-fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn bread.”
JOSHUA :
Pronounced: JAW-shu-wa, JAW-shwa
Origin(s): Hebrew
Meaning: From the Hebrew name Yehoshua meaning “YAHWEH [God] is salvation”. Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses in the Old Testament. After Moses died Joshua succeeded him as leader of the Israelites. The Joshua tree is an evergreen tree of the yucca family growing in arid or desert regions of the southwestern U.S.
NOTE: It is strictly coincidental that the two names picked for today come from the essentially same root!
Information sources include Behind the Name, Baby Zone, and Fact Monster. I don’t know why I decided to do this little project, but I’m going to post two names each day for the month of October. The names for each day will begin with same letter, and I’ll work my way through the alphabet until I do “Z” on October 26th. The names for the rest of the month will come from reader submissions.
